Running into gag rules? SPJ wants to hear about it.

If you are a journalist or a news outlet running into gag rules curtailing public employees’ rights to speak to reporters, the Society of Professional Journalists wants to hear from you.

Such censorship is unconstitutional, according to attorneys who are experts on the issue. SPJ wants to help fight these widespread gag rules in the courts.

Under these all-too-common restrictions, agencies either ban employees from talking to journalists or demand that they not communicate with journalists unless they get clearance from authorities, often public information officers. 

Now, attorneys with expertise in media law want to break down the walls preventing reporters from talking to public servants. Toward that end, SPJ is collecting information about the obstacles news outlets are facing with gag rules.     

The growing interest in this under-recognized but insidious problem has grown in part because last April a reporter made journalism history.

Investigative journalist Brittany Hailer won a favorable settlement, with strong First Amendment language, supporting employees’ and contractors’ right to speak to reporters. Hailer had filed a legal action about speech restrictions against the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, which was the focus of reporting on inmate deaths.

Hailer’s settlement was a breakthrough because many people had previously thought that journalists could not bring such cases against gag rules on their own accord.

The Yale Law School Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed the suit on behalf of Hailer, whose reporting was funded in part by The Pulitzer Center.

Foundational thinking for such cases was provided by a 2019 report by prominent First Amendment attorney Frank LoMonte, currently co-chair of the Free Speech and Free Press Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice. 

In a summary report, LoMonte said of the constraints: “Media plaintiffs should be able to establish that their interests have been injured, whether directly or indirectly, to sustain a First Amendment challenge to government restraints on employees’ speech to the media.” 

SPJ wants to build a network of attorneys who are interested in challenging controls on the ability of journalists and employees to communicate. But they need members of the journalism community to let SPJ know about the gag policies operating in their communities and on their beats. A recent blog post points to examples of such policies and to some city managers’ belief that the rules are an essential part of running municipalities. 

If you are dealing with gag rules or have questions, please contact Kathryn Foxhall,  SPJ's point person on the topic, at kfoxhall@verizon.net. Please include a summary of the gag rules or relevant news article. SPJ will keep information confidential, if need be. 

Not every gag situation can become a legal case, but each one will help shed light on what sorts of speech controls journalists and public employees are up against. Further background of the issue is here.